NEWS FOCUS SecEd: On Your Side


The private sector is looming large...


THE SUMMER looms large and your thoughts are no doubt turning to what will be a hard- earned rest and a chance to recharge. The final days of the school year often provide a time for reflection and after another academic year full of change and challenge there is certainly a lot to reflect upon. Over the past few years I have dedicated this column to


Pete


Henshaw Editor SecEd


a range of issues, but probably most regularly (certainly in the past two years) to the policies of the government. I have, over the years, agreed and disagreed with administrations of all colours and I see it as SecEd’s duty to scrutinise and hold the government of the day to account. After several years of doing this, I cannot help but feel


that we are trapped in a circle of education policy creation. MPs get elected, dream up headline-winning policies, force teachers to deliver them, some policies stick around for a while, until newMPs get elected and it all starts again. They all have the same rhetoric, newspapers lap it up and all the while schools get on with the real task of education to little or no acclaim. This is not to say that ministers cannot make a difference


– for better or worse – but invariably they tinker around the edges while schools deliver real education. However, inMichael Gove we have something more


serious. His pace of change is altering state education forever and no-one in the Department for Education is taking stock, measuring impact, or checking that their policies are working. Taking a step back this week I have realised something. Having worked in education journalism now for several years, I have noticed a palpable change in the past 18 months which actually frightens me – makes me afraid of what the future holds for English education. The unlinking of education from the state is something


that we may never be able to change back. By 2015 a majority of secondary schools will be “academised”, many primaries as well; a raft of free schools will be open, as well as other academies – studio schools and university technical colleges. Is anyone considering the impact of this huge change to the structure of state education? The looming large of the private sector and its influence


over education has, of course, dominated the educational landscape for some time now. But the signs have grown stronger in recent months, with hints thatMr Gove is relaxed about eventually allowing profit-making schools. Of course, the profit-makers have always been with


us in the form of resource providers, ICT companies and other suppliers. However, the opening up of education to the private sector in the past 18 months has been dramatic – 10-year contracts to run free schools being handed over to big business, local SEN services being slashed forcing schools to move to the costlier private sector, Connexions services being axed, forcing schools into the careers guidance market. Everywhere you look, business is there and the line between businesses supporting state schools and businesses running state schools seems to get ever thinner. At a recent function, I met a business man who had


been involved with bids for free school contracts. When I challenged that companies will always put profits ahead of pupils, he countered thus: If an airline prioritised profit to the extent that planes were dangerous and falling out of the sky, they would lose customers and go out of business. It is a good metaphor. However, I contend that every


airline has, hidden away, an “acceptable loss” figure – the number of plane crashes that it feels it can “get away with” while not losing business. This reasoning is common in all businesses – the hard and cold bottom line of acceptable loss. This is why no business must ever be allowed to run our state schools – because they will care more about profit than children, and will undoubtedly set “acceptable failure” figures as they aim for nothing more than keeping their contracts. So letMr Gove play around with league tables, and the curriculum – schools can cope with his tinkering. But whatever we do, we must stop him from selling our state education system down the river.


A new initiative is aiming to give state pupils the same opportunities as their independent school peers


when it comes to meeting employers and getting crucial career insights. Carol Glover explains


INSPIRING THE Future is a free initiative which will see employees from all sectors and professions volunteering to go into state secondary schools and colleges to talk about their jobs, careers, and the education routes they took. Nearly a third of all state secondary schools had already registered ahead of the launch, which took place onMonday (July 2). A survey published alongside


the launch shows that 98 per cent of classroom teachers in state schools think it important (80 per cent saying very important) for young people to meet employers to talk about jobs and careers, but many do not currently have the opportunity to do this. Inspiring the Future will help


meet this need by connecting schools with volunteers from all walks of life, for free. The ambition is to recruit 100,000 volunteers, which equates to 30 to 40 people (covering a range of jobs/backgrounds) for each of our around 3,000 state secondary schools. Inspiring the Future uses an


online platform, the first of its type, to connect volunteers to schools. It is a free service endorsed by government with cross-party support, the UK’s main teacher and employer organisations, and many leading employers. At Monday’s launch, scores of


leading employers and small and medium enterprises took part in a careers networking event at a


school in Tower Hamlets – one of England’s most disadvantaged areas. Brian Lightman, general


secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), who gave a workshop about working in the education sector, said: “The world of work offers a bewildering range of opportunities for young people. It is immensely important that they have the chance to gain insights early on about different jobs and careers, especially when they cover areas outside their immediate experience. “Employers often say that young


people do not come to them with appropriate skills, and this project provides an ideal opportunity to talk directly to young people about what is required to succeed in the workplace. “Having seen the benefits of this


approach first hand as a headteacher, I am grateful to the many employers who have willingly volunteered their time and I am confident it will be hugely beneficial to the young people involved.” Nearly 100 employers took


part in the careers fair, which was attended by 1,000 pupils. Inspiring the Future is the sister programme of Speakers for Schools, which organises business speakers for the education sector. Both programmes are administered by charity the Education and Employers Taskforce. Sir Roger Carr, president of the Confederation of British Industry


IN RESPONSE…


Two recent Parliamentary debates tackled the impact of advertising on children’s obesity and mental health and also the wider issue of mental health in the UK. The charity YoungMinds welcomed the debates, pointing out that one in 10 children aged five to 16 suffer from a diagnosable mental health disorder, while around 37,000 children are admitted to hospital each year due to the severity of self-harm.


Chris Ruane MP “Half the adverts aimed at children encourage them to gorge on junk food and become obese, while the other half extol the virtues of size zero. Is it any wonder that 20 per cent of children suffer with mental illness? Will the minister look at the example of Sweden, which has banned advertising aimed at the under-12s?”


SecEd


• Pete Henshaw is the editor of SecEd. You email him at editor@sec-ed.co.uk or find him on Twitter (@pwhenshaw).


Nicky Morgan MP “Mental health comes at an economic and social cost to the UK economy of £105 billion a year. Only a quarter of people with mental health issues – children as well as adults – receive any treatment. YoungMinds has called for one worker to be allotted to each child needing support for


a mental health condition, so that children can avoid multiple assessments and need not retell their story each time they see a new person in the system.”


Jim Shannon MP “I am also concerned about teenagers who suffer from depression. Between 10 and 20 per cent of our teenagers will suffer from depression at some point in that short period of their life. I believe that there has to be recognition of mental illnesses, notably depression, and it means that we need to look ... at preventing mental health problems and ensuring early intervention. Many personal issues affect mental health, including drink, drugs ... and risk-taking behaviour, whether smoking or unsafe sex.”


Alison Seabeck MP “We are still failing very many young people. Recent media reports on suicides highlight just how difficult it can be for young people who are being bullied or are struggling through other personal issues. Tragically, schools and other responsible adults have failed to recognise what was going on in their lives. YoungMinds, which was praised by the minister, is concerned by the service cuts and reductions in provision for child and adolescent mental health. We


also have to address an issue about the transition from support in that area into adulthood. That area needs a lot more attention, and I hope that the minister will address some of these specific issues.”


Andrea Leadsom MP “It is like Harry Potter. He had loving parents until he was two, but then along came Lord Voldemort and murdered them, and he had an unspeakable experience until he was into his teens. What kept him on the straight and narrow was his secure foundation. I put it to the minister that that is how to secure good emotional health for our society. If babies do not have a secure bond – usually with mum, but it can be with another parent or adoptive parents – their brain develops in such a way that they expect to have to fight or withdraw. Those babies are the people who go on to fail to cope with what life throws at them. They struggle to make friendships, and they are the people who are bullied or become victims, or indeed become bullies themselves.”


Paul Burstow, care services minister “There is no health without mental health. In that simple statement I sum up the coalition government’s approach to mental health Economists tell us that mental ill


health in this country costs £105 billion a year, and that is just in England. If we succeed and put in place the right combination of public health, anti-stigma policies, accessible psychological therapies and excellent community and acute services, we can dramatically reduce that figure. Put another way, if we can deliver the right evidence-based treatment to children and young people so that their conditions do not persist into adulthood, we can prevent as many as two in five of all adult mental health disorders.”


Lucie Russell, YoungMinds “Schools have a vital role to play in supporting children’s emotional wellbeing. Promoting the emotional wellbeing of all young people, and providing effective support for those with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties gives them the skills to cope with the ups and downs of life, develop good relationships, and achieve their full potential. YoungMinds was disappointed last year when Ofsted removed from its inspection criteria the emotional wellbeing of pupils. We believe Ofsted must emphasise the importance of children’s social and emotional wellbeing for all schools, without exception.”


www.sec-ed.com Inspiring their futures


and chairman of Centrica, gave a workshop to pupils at the launch on working in business. He told SecEd: “There is


nothing more compelling for young people thinking about their future careers than meeting and speaking to inspirational people who do the jobs they are considering.” He continued: “We desperately


need to tackle the corrosive effects of high youth unemployment in the UK, so I would urge employers to sign up to this initiative and encourage their staff to get involved and provide valuable insights into their careers.” Employers who took part in


the Tower Hamlets event included Aston Martin, Barts Hospital, the BBC, the Civil Service, London City Airport, L’Oreal, the Met Police, the Teaching Agency and Virgin Trains. A number of smaller business also attended including a landscape designer, furniture maker, stonemason, musician and 20 apprentices.


Dr Deirdre Hughes, chair of the


National Careers Council and UK commissioner for employment and skills, believes the programme is a unique and innovative approach to connect young people to the world of work. She said: “It brings alive the


reality of people’s working lives and the differing pathways to success. The initiative encourages young people, teachers and employers to learn from one another and, most importantly, to network and to find out more about career resilience and adaptability in a rapidly changing economy.”


SecEd


• Carol Glover is from the Education and Employers Taskforce.


Further information


All state secondary schools and further education colleges can register for Inspiring the Future for free by visiting www.inspiringthefuture.org/ schools-and-colleges.aspx


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SecEd • July 5 2012


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